Seal for packages



(No Model.)

L. F. MUSSON SEAL PoR PACKAGES, sw.

Patented June 8,1897.

WIT/VESSES:

PATENT @Trient LEWIS F. MUSSON, OF \VINONA, MINNESOTA.

SEAL FOR PACKAGES, abc.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 584,290, dated June 8, 1897.

` Application filed April 24, 1896. Serial No. 588,936. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS F. HUSSON, of Winona, in the county of NVinona and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Seals for Packages and Methods of Perfecting said Seals, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates especially to a method of perfecting a seal on letters, money-packages, or other articles of value, the contents of which are supposed to be protected and not to be exposed or tampered With until they have reached their destination and are delivered into the hands of the proper party or parties.

The object of this invention is to provide a means whereby each and every wax seal produced upon any letter or package may bear different symbols or designs, differently designated or of totally different appearance, so that practically no two seals will be alike, and, furthermore, to provide a means whereby when the package or letter has reached its destination the genuineness of the seal may be accurately, conveniently, and expedi tiously verified. v

The invention consists in the construction of thesealand in the novel steps of the method by which the seal is produced and rendered effective.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the iigures.

Figure l is a plan view of the strip of paper or fabric from which the various designs have been out. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a seal in which the designs 'cut from the strip shown in Fig. l are secured, imparting to the seal means of identiiication and verification. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a strip of material or fabric bearing a different design from that shown in Fig. 1 and from which characters have likewise been removed, and Fig. 4 is a plan view of the seal bearing the characters removed from the strip shown in Fig. 3.

In carrying out the invention a strip A, of paper, fabric, or a like material, isemployed, and the said strip may be provided with a marbled face, as shown in Fig. l, or one face of the said strip may be lined in a peculiar or particular manner, or, as illustrated in Fig.

3, the face of the said strip may be provided with a particular design. The seal B is preferably made of wax and in the usual manner and is adapted for use wherever a hard wax seal is capable of being employed.

A predetermined number of pieces a are punched or otherwise removed from a strip A, and the said pieces or particles of fabric or paper removed from the strip may be of any desired marginal contour. In thedravvings one of the pieces or particles is of cruciform shape, while the others are of disk-like contour, and the punches or other tools employed for removing the said pieces or particles d are preferably circularly grouped or may have a predetermined arrangement, so that the openings h in the strip, produced by the removal of the pieces or particles a, will have a predetermined or a characteristic grouping. While the WaX from which the seal B is made is still warm the pieces or particles a removed from the strip A are assembled upon the seal and pressed therein, the arrangement of the pieces on the seal being made to approximate as closely as possible the arrangement of the openings in the strip A, from which the pieces were removed.

The marbled surface ofthe strip A may be made in a combination of various colors, and the combing may be varied in character and size throughout the length and width of the strip, or when a designl is produced upon the strip the same design may be in many colors, or in shades of colors, so that each grouping of pieces or particles a removed from a strip of fabric or material will have a different surface configuration, and in this manner the seals produced will differ from another.

As a verification of the seal, that portion of the strip of fabric or paper A from which the particles or pieces are removed may be sent to the purposed destination of the letter or package thus sealed, so that the receiver may colnpare the perforated sheet with the designs on the seal, and if the surface decoration of the pieces or particles on the seal corresponds to the complete surface decoration on the sheet or strip it will prove almost positively that the same seal is still upon the letter or package that was placed thereon when the said letter or package was despatched.

IOO

Having thus described my invention, I claim as neW and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The herein-described .method of perfecting a seal for letters, packages, dac., which consists in removing from a strip of material having a surface design, a predetermined number of pieces or particles, and applying the removed pieces or particles to the seal With the surface design uppermost While the seal is in a plastic condition, as and for the purpose specified.

2. Theherein-described method of perfecting plastic seals, which consists in'removing from a strip of material having a predetermined facial design, a number of pieces or particles of desired shape and in predetermined arrangement, and applying the said removed particles to the face of the plastic seal in substantially the same arrangement as the arrangement of the apertures in the strip formed by the removal of the said pieces or particles, as and for the purpose specified.

3. The herein-described method of perfect ing plastic seals, Which consists in removing from a strip of material having a predetermined facial design, a number of pieces or particles of desired shape and in predetermined arrangement, and applying the said removed particles to the face of the plastic seal in substantially the same arrangement as the arrangement of the apertures in the strips formed by the removal of the said pieces or particles, the -aperturedstrip being preserved to verify the arrangement and character of the pieces or particles on the seal, thereby enabling the receiver of a sealed letter or document to determine Whether or not the seal has been ,tampered with, as and for the purpose specified.

4t. A seal having pieces or particles compressed therein, the said pieces or particles being of a material different from that of the said seal and having a surface design, as and for the purpose specified.

5. A seal having compressed therein pieces or particles of a material different from that of the seal, the said pieces or particles being provided vvith predetermined delineations upon their outer faces and being of predetermined design, as and for the purpose specified.

6. A plastic seal having pieces or particles o-f paperfabric or like material compressed therein, the said pieces or particles being provided with predetermined delineations upon their outer faces and beingof predetermined design and arranged in a predetermined order on the said seal, as and for the purpose specied.

LEWIS F. MUS-SO N'.

Witnesses:

H. W. Posz, H. F. SCHMIDT. 

